Marquette - GU rivalry?

[millerj9]

from MarquetteHoops.com writer...with a few Barker Davis quotes

potential Big East rivals:

Cuse

UConn

Pitt

Gtown:
"This potential rivalry is perhaps the dark horse candidate as far as most people are concerned, but many of the conditions are in place for it to take on many elements of the Marquette-DePaul series.

The Hoyas and the men ringing out ‘Ahoya’ played two hotly contested defensive games last season. The first a 57-51 home victory for Marquette, and the second a 62-59 round-two loss for the Golden Eagles in the Big East Tournament. That nail-biter in Madison Square Garden, in which Georgetown and Marquette traded runs of six or more in the final 5 minutes, knocked Marquette from the conference tournament after they had played their way to one of the four first-round byes.

The Hoya’s beat writer, Barker Davis of the Washington Times, spoke excitedly about a possible rivalry with Tom Crean’s crew. He cited the similarities between Georgetown and Marquette as institutions as the main spark to the rivalry. Both schools are midsized Jesuit institutions fixed in an urban setting. Neither school sponsors a football program, making hoops the main athletic draw. And both possess storied histories in that department.

“When you have similarity of schools a rivalry is almost instant,” he observed.

Davis pointed out that the similarities between the two schools, especially the Jesuit Catholic parallel, create a lot of alumni overlap. This fosters instant rivalry, as it always does with Marquette’s Lincoln Park rivals. Davis even cited a personal example of such a phenomenon.

“I went to Georgetown, and my aunt and uncle went to Marquette. For us it’s all about who beat who last.” And he added, “I’m not even Catholic.”

On the court both teams feature vastly different personnel and styles of play. Seven-footer Roy Hibbert is the latest in a storied line of centers to come out of Georgetown. He and his tree-trunk running mates feature an attack that stresses ball control and backdoor cuts.

On the other side, of course, is Dominic James. The dynamic sophomore leads a wide-open running attack that doesn’t count too much on its size. And James continues what has been a trend of excellent guard prospect during the Tom Crean era.

And just as Crean has espoused numerous times the amount of respect he holds for Jamie Dixon’s Panthers, there is a great deal of mutual admiration between these two teams as well.

The Hoyas and Golden Eagles will meet in the nation’s capital February 10.

Outlook: very likely in the near future"

story.scout.com/a.z?s=183&p=2&c=613254

[hoya4ever]

Ha. Haha. Hahaha.

I dont know about this, even if they considered us to be rivals, I think normal Georgetown students (and not the ones that hang around here) would say "Marquette Who?!"

[SirSaxa]

Cuse, Johnnies, Uconn, Nova... those are our main rivals i'd say.

[williambraskyiii]

that makes it even more imperative that we destroy marquette feb 10...as far as i'm concerned that are no different than the depauls of the world - a couple good recruits here and there, but overall, stop fantasizing- can't play with the big boys

[SFHoya99]

The writer did call it a potential rivalry. Since they are in a new conference, Marquette is looking for new rivalries. I'd say there is a lot of potential, except for geography.

[ExcitableBoy]

millerj9 said:

Neither school sponsors a football program

Mostly correct.... Is it really that hard to just run a quick check of the school's website to verify facts??

[guru]

Um, no. I understand Marquette's desire to have some real rivals in its new conference, but I don't see this one happening. They've done very well in their first two years, but I don't see them as a program that can sustain - they'll settle into the league as a Seton Hall/Providence type that can rise up every few years and challenge for the title

[SFHoya99]

guru said:

Um, no. I understand Marquette's desire to have some real rivals in its new conference, but I don't see this one happening. They've done very well in their first two years, but I don't see them as a program that can sustain - they'll settle into the league as a Seton Hall/Providence type that can rise up every few years and challenge for the title

Really? They have a fantastic coach who they've committed to paying millions -- so no real worries about him leaving. They have great facilities and better fan support than us. Yes, it is Milwaukee, but everything else is going right at Marquette.

[Cambridge]

I just had dinner with a Marquette fan last night, she was super excited about our game against them. As far as she was concerned it was the biggest game of the year. Not saying that means anything, but pointing out that there may be something to this in the future.

[guru]

We'll see, I guess. I just can't get that excited about Marquette. Their coach does get under my skin, though, so that's something.

[williambraskyiii]

this year the Marquette game means a TON...i am rooting for them up until our game and hopefully we can have a Top 20 matchup with 'em on feb 10 if we win until then as well - maybe even a battle for 1st in the BE if pitt trips up before then.

[guhoyasfan36]

Marquettes has a decent squad and always seems to get a few guys that can make them a tough team to play. This year I think the have the toughest guard duo in the league with James and McNeal. No doubt they're no easy out. As far as being a Hoyas rival...I don't think they have the history, maybe in ten years or so it might be a different story.

[bubbrubbhoya]

williambraskyiii said:

this year the Marquette game means a TON...i am rooting for them up until our game and hopefully we can have a Top 20 matchup with 'em on feb 10 if we win until then as well - maybe even a battle for 1st in the BE if pitt trips up before then.

Ahhhh! Jinx-watch...seriously, no more of this "if we win until then..." stuff...it can only end up poorly.

I think it clearly takes years for a true rivalry to develop, and this one will clearly never rival GU-Cuse (would JTIII ever say, "Yeah, Duke was nice, but this was better; this was...Marquette,"? hahaha, NO!). That said, I think we'll have to wait several years before we can go one way or the other on this one. As it stands, simply because of the hopes each team has in the BE this year and our close games last year, one could say this is a rivalry game for this year (doesn't mean that we will become historical rivals...just at the moment). I'd say an example of this type of rivalry is GU-WVU. Nobody on this board can tell me that he/she isn't really hoping for a shellacking of the Cousin-Loving State U based on the second half of last year's game at MCI. I see this as a rivalry for us this year, even though it may not be next year...if that makes any sense.

[Big Dog]

I hate them. I know this is sacrilege around here, but I actually openly rooted for Syracuse against them when the two played earlier this season. It has nothing to do with school similarity (they are not similar academically), the Jesuit tradition (I'm not Catholic), or anything else. It is entirely personal, because everyone else I know loves them. Flying in to see the ranked Hoyas lose to the unranked Golden Eagles at the Bradley Center last year was one of the most miserable sports experiences of my life.

Beating them Feb. 10 is more important to me than any game we play until the conference tournament. Unfortunately, I don't think their pressure-heavy, guard-dominated play is a very good matchup for us. We had a very hard time getting it inside last year, and it could well happen again.

[bubbrubbhoya]

bigdog said:

I hate them. I know this is sacrilege around here, but I actually openly rooted for Syracuse against them when the two played earlier this season. It has nothing to do with school similarity, the Jesuit tradition (I'm not Catholic), or anything else. It is entirely personal, because everyone else I know loves them. Flying in to see the ranked Hoyas lose to the unranked Golden Eagles at the Bradley Center last year was one of the most miserable sports experiences of my life.

Beating them Feb. 10 is more important to me than any game we play until the conference tournament. Unfortunately, I don't think their pressure-heavy, guard-dominated play is a very good matchup for us. We had a very hard time getting it inside last year, and it could well happen again.

I dunno...after the 'Nova game it seems improbable that JTIII won't have our "tree trunks" ready to beat the press...especially with Rivers playing better each game giving us another reliable ball-handler (if not shooter).

[Big Dog]

But who will stop the penetration? We couldn't stop Pitt's.

Not saying we can't win, but we have to dictate things by playing great defense. If we really are starting to rein in the turnovers, then we can beat anybody around.

[williambraskyiii]

i dont think that we can expect much consistency from rivers considering he is still only a freshman and not one with the advanced physical skills like a Summers...he looks shaky in today's game and was actually given some RIDICULOUSLY open looks from 3 but just couldnt know 'em down...he is aggressive and big on defense, and i like that, but to say that Rivers will be an important component of helping us break down marquette's guards is a bit of a stretch i think.

we wont be able to stop marquette's guard penetration...we just have to play very good help defense and make our defensive rotations work without leaving someone open...it will be a challenge, but luckily without a Novak this year, marquette is a tad suspect from long range.

[guru]

Good thing you're not saying we can't win -- sheesh, it's Marquette. We will beat them by double digits. With all the former Hoya greats in the house and they way we're playing? I know they have a great backcourt, but our answer in the backcourt is far better than theirs is against our frontcourt. I'm not worried about the Marquette game.

[HoyaSinceBirth]

We've tamed our turnovers for now it seems so I think we'll be fine. We're gonna have to play a bit better on the defensive end but i trust our trees to step up and help when they penetrate. With out 3 pt shooting Marquette isn't as nearly a big of threat as they were last year. We had problems feeding the post last year. If we feed roy like we did today we'll be fine.

[AvantGuardHoya]

I’m with you, SFHoya. Why couldn’t a rivalry between the two schools develop? Al McGuire put Marquette on the basketball map. They’d pretty much been off the radar until Crean got ‘em going again. I don’t see them fading into mediocrity anytime soon.

Funny thing about some of the rivalries we’ve established. How many existed before the BE was created? And Uconn wasn’t a main rival until after Calhoun arrived from Northeastern in ’86. Seems to me new rivalries can certainly spring up now. Why not Marquette?